Of Legends and Lost things
by dreamingofgallifrey
Summary: Piper, glass can be broken, glass can be shattered. But your heart is not made of glass. Piper, trust again, love again. You were always for another.  Piper meets her mother and discovers what she is really like.
1. A Dream

At this very moment in time Piper McLean felt like a rotten leaf.

Yes she did.

She had been floating along in a summer breeze gentle and warm. Her life had been going right. And suddenly, wham! She hit an obstacle and was nearly crushed to pieces.

Stupid Jason Grace! She punched her pillow again. Leaving her to rot to on the ground. Urggghhh! If only she could just empty her head of all these false memories, she could go back to being Piper Without A Broken Heart.

If only... She was beginning to realise the torment to simple words could bring her.

If only she hadn't hit this bump in the road. If only she didn't have a stupid heart.

Or, she thought sadly, at least a heart that wasn't made of glass.

Piper dreamed in her sleep. And thinking about glass hearts had dredged up another painful memory...

_She was young and carefree. Her dark hair streamed behind her as she ran across the moonlit sands. _

_The sea rushed up to caress her small toes and then released her, ebbing a little further away each time. _

_The young girl had not an earthly care in the world for she was an angel. An angel who had fallen from the stars and was brought up on earth as a child. _

_The angelic child should not have been here on earth, no for her heart was not earthly, it was made of glass. _

_Glass shatters. _

_And so the earthly couple who protected her were careful, very careful that her heart was protected all through her childhood. A few cracks and scratches here and there on her glass heart, but nothing so far that couldn't be mended. _

_But the child grew up into a beautiful earthly woman. It is said that her beauty was unrivalled and unparalleled anywhere across the land. It was almost otherworldly. _

_The young angel knew about her glass heart and sought to protect it from prying eyes. She rejected every suitor that came to call. _

_But finally as it always happens, the young angel gave her heart away... Unwillingly but it just happened. She danced she was carefree again, no longer cautious, no longer bound in chains. She let her glass heart fly. _

_But something that fragile was never meant to fly, it was only meant to glow from inside, to look as beautiful and as cold as its mistress. _

_And one slip one day. One day she woke up and something happened. She realised that it was never meant to be. There had always been another. Another better woman. Another more beautiful, more intelligent woman. _

_It was a simple case of heartbreak as her heart fell spiralling out of control, back down to earth. _

_Don't let go of something so fragile. For glass hearts are not meant to fly. _

Everything went black, Grandpa Tom's face receded into the background and she thought she was going to wake up.

But suddenly a strange voice honeyed and sweet whispered in her ear.

_Piper, glass can be broken, glass can be shattered. But your heart is not made of glass. Piper, trust again, love again. You were always for another._

Piper gasped and sat up. Her head span and she felt disorientated. But when the world finally came to rest the right way round, she lay back down and sank into deep thought.

The storyteller had been Grandpa Tom, the story one she had heard long ago when she was little. But the voice in the dark...it said she would love again. It said she was for another.

And there was only one person who could decide that.


	2. A Visit to the garden in the sky

She quickly threw back the covers and silently padded into the bathroom.

Iris messaging. How had Annabeth done it just a few days ago.

She fumbled around, with a torch and the tap water and finally got it just right. She reached into her pocket and threw a single golden drachma into the water.

She said a few simple words and a face appeared in the mist.

The face smiled. "Come with me," it said, "I have so much to show you"

Piper realised she didn't have much of a choice.

"Yes" she whispered.

A whirlwind of light enclosed her. She shut her eyes and prayed to every god she knew.

_Please, please, please. _

And suddenly she was still. She had arrived in a beautiful garden. Cherry blossom lined the cobbled paths and petals fell every time the wind rustled through the midnight air. Rose bushes and tulip clusters dotted the ground every few meters.

Piper breathed in the scent of flowers deeply.

The scent made her brain feel foggy and content. She just wanted to lie down and sleep. Sleep... it sounded so good right now. She swayed on her feet...

"Piper!" a voice commanded sharply, "Wake up!"

A worried face looked down at her.

Her eyes still felt blurry. But the urge to rest had started fading away.

"Wait where am I? What happened?" she began to panic.

"Even the sweetest of roses can hide the sharpest of thorns Piper." The voice said, "This garden was developed by Demeter, Hypnos and I. Persephone too. Each plant in her has our aspects, our powers mixed."

"Sleep for Hypnos, growth and well plants for Demeter, flowers for Persephone" piper paused for a moment, "and beauty of course for..."

"Me" the woman smiled, "Beauty for Aphrodite."


	3. The Pink Palace

Half an hour later, Piper was sitting on a pink reclining sofa drinking a hot cup of herbal tea. Opposite her only separated by a glass coffee table sat her mother. Piper still couldn't believe it. Of course her mother changed appearance every time she saw her, because Piper's definition of the most beautiful person on earth kept changing too.

She just couldn't stop glancing at her every few seconds and reminding herself that this was her mum.

Her own mother.

Of course as soon as she had entered what she thought of as the, 'Pink Palace', her mother had clicked her fingers to give Piper a new hairdo and new designer clothes.

"More will be waiting when you get back to Camp" her mother gushed, "All designer you know."

"Uh-huh. I can hardly restrain my excitement." Piper muttered.

Aphrodite beamed at her.

Obviously, Aphrodite wasn't used to sarcasm or she thought that no child of hers would ever feel so bitter about new clothes. Probably, Piper thought almost sighing, the latter.

Anyway she was sitting here now with her mother and all the clothes and her hair and the Pink Palace had made her forget the actual reason for coming here.

Piper looked at her mother seriously as she giggled about the latest fashions and celebrity matchmaking. Could this woman really have given her such serious advice in her dream? She'd sounded so deep and mystical. Piper glanced at Aphrodite again and took another sip of her tea. She was almost ashamed to think that Aphrodite could've given her that dream message. It had to have been her brain making things up. Maybe she just ought to go.

She sighed and her mother looked at her almost with a strange kind of pride. But was there to be proud about? Piper thought. She was just another Aphrodite girl, pretty and fashion conscious. Alright she wasn't a mean beauty queen like drew or a complete airhead like Lacey, but so were lots of the other campers. And add to that she cried floods every night because of a stupid little crush.

Maybe it wasn't pride in Aphrodite's face, but vanity. After all she was 'the fairest of them all' wasn't she? Maybe she'd caught her reflection on a shiny surface and was musing over how good she looked. Piper was on the verge of tears. Come to Aphrodite for advice? What was she thinking!

She got up ready to leave.

"Um Lady Aphrodite?"

"Yes Piper?"

"I was wondering...maybe I should go back to Camp. Thanks for everything but I should really leave now."

"Hmmm" Aphrodite's face hardened, "Why must you go child when you have not received the answer to your question?"

"What question?" Piper snapped, all patience lost.

Aphrodite stood up too, "You know Piper McLean. You know exactly what I'm talking to you about.

Piper was a little fazed by the change from gossip queen to normal person but she didn't show it.

"You have a question Piper McLean," Aphrodite maintained, "I know what it is."

Piper nodded mutely, but she wasn't listening, she was watching. When her mother had turned from drama queen to normal... something else had changed.


	4. Metamorphosis

Aphrodite's face had transformed.

Before she had pale ivory shin, bright blonde hair and deep brown eyes. She was slim and tall, very tall as she was wearing high heels which must have been killing her feet.

Now she had olive skin and dark lustrous mahogany brown hair. Her eyes were intense and they were leaf green. Her cheekbones were higher and her chin was squared. She looked a lot more like Piper now.

Piper had changed Aphrodite's face. Now instead of looking like a high and mighty supermodel, she looked like... How she had imagined her mother would be when she was little.

She looked a lot more approachable and a lot wiser and serious.

"Let's go outside to my garden Piper and there we can talk"

They passed through a few corridors, before Piper realised that the whole place looked different. Nothing was pink, everything was made of weathered oak wood. Almost like Grandpa Tom's cabin but a lot bigger.

They finally reached the garden. They sat on a bench, Piper trying not to breathe in the sleeping fumes from the plants.

"Piper," she said, "You are a lot like my Silena."

Her smile faltered for a moment when she mentioned Silena's name and then she continued.

"You're a lot like her. A lot like the real me. By the way, the look you decided for me, it's different. It's nice but it's so serious, it's more like reality. Most people who meet me turn me into their favourite pop star or actress or supermodel. Percy Jackson made me look like Annabeth Chase. "

"Percy Jackson... Met you?"

"Yes of course he did. Needed a slight course correction that one."

Piper nearly had to bite her tongue off to restrain herself from asking about the 'course correction'.

Aphrodite laughed, "It's just your gossip gene going isn't it?"

Piper went red.

"Lady Aphrodite "Piper said after a long pause, "I need to know... Why did you send me that dream message?"

"You were upset. You're wasting tears on false memories. You're trying to let go but it's not happening and for that you're blaming me."

"I wasn't-"

"Don't worry I get it all the time. Every so often I get another complaint letter from Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague from Hades of course. Well they weren't supposed to end up dead..." Aphrodite cleared her throat, "Anyway, I didn't make you feel this attachment Piper. Hera planted those memories in your head. You're synthesising the love." Aphrodite smiled weakly, "Looks like I'm in for a bit of competition"

"But why... You said... Glass hearts..." Piper trailed off now confused.

"Ah glass Piper. It's so beautiful, it's so cold and yet so fragile. It shatters Piper. It's not meant to last.

Piper, glass hearts are a metaphor for something _that wasn't meant to last_. It shatters."

"You mean, the dream meant that..."

"You two weren't went to be or maybe that you're not _ready_ to be together."

"You don't know?"

"I am a lot of things Piper but omniscient isn't one of them."

"But you're a god!"

"If gods knew the answer to everything there would never be any problems would there?"

Piper shook her head in disbelief.

"But what I do know Piper, is that you're special. You're different to the rest. And if I was allowed to have favourites it would be you. You're strong Piper, you're brave and you spread love and beauty. That's what being an Aphrodite camper means. Not being some mean beauty queen who loves fashion magazines."

"Hmm, Drew didn't make it sound like that"

At that they laughed, not because it was funny but because it just felt so good to laugh away their worries.


	5. An Ending

"Piper," her mother said gently, "It's time you went back to Camp."

Piper nodded, "Lady Aphrodite-"

"No Piper" Aphrodite cut in, "Call me mum" and pulled Piper into a warm hug.

And as Piper hugged her back, she closed her eyes. And as silent tears poured down her face, she suddenly wondered what it would've been like to have this all her life. She felt a strange fluttering at this thought. Usually she'd only ever thought about how to get attention and care from her dad. She hadn't really given a second thought to what it would be like having a mum. She'd only wanted to know who her mum was.

Did knowing it now make things any easier?

"Go home now."

"Thanks... Mum for everything."

"Bye sweetie. Visit again soon"

And as Piper strode away she didn't look back. She could tell from her last few words that her mum was morphing back into sugar syrupy, fashion magazine, glamorous Aphrodite. The one Olympus knew and the one all the Half-blood campers knew... But never one she would ever know or understand.

Suddenly she was surrounded by a whirlwind of light.

That was the last thing she remembered.


	6. Note

NOTE:

Thank you for all the comments! Just wanted to say, I've also posted this story on my Wattpad account for more views and feedback. On there it's called Reflected in Glass.

Please keep commenting, constructive criticism appreciated.


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